HINDUISM (part 4)

According to the Hindu Puranas, there are fourteen worlds in
the universe - the seven upper and the seven lower. The seven upper worlds
are Bhuh, Bhavah, Swah, Mahah, Janah. Tapah, and Satyam; and the seven
nether worlds are Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Rasatala, Talatala, Mahatala, and
Patala. The region known as Bhuh is the earth where we dwell, while Swah
is the celestial world to which people repair after death to enjoy the
reward of their righteous actions on earth. Bhuvah is the region between
the two. Janah, Tapah, and Satyam constitute Brahmaloka, or the highest
heaven, where fortunate souls repair after death and enjoy spiritual
communion with the personal God, and at the end of the cycle attain
liberation, though a few return to earth again. The world of Mahah is
located between Brahmaloka and Bhuh, Bhuuah, and Swah. Patala, the lowest
of the seven nether worlds, is the realm where wicked souls sojourn after
death and reap the results of their unrighteous actions on earth.
Thus, from the viewpoint of Hinduism, heaven and hell are merely different
worlds, bound by time, space, and causality. According to Hinduism,
desires are responsible for a person's embodiment. Some of these desires
can best be fulfilled in a human body, and some in an animal or a
celestial body. Accordingly, a soul assumes a body determined by its
unfulfilled desires and the results of its past actions. An animal or a
celestial body is for reaping the results of past karma, not for
performing actions to acquire a new body. Performance of karma to effect
any change of life is possible only in a human body, because only human
beings do good or evil consciously. Human birth is therefore a great
privilege, for in a human body alone can one attain the supreme goal of
life. Thus, in search of eternal happiness and immortality, the apparent
soul is born again and again in different bodies, only to discover in the
end that immortality can never be attained through fulfillment of desires.
The soul then practices discrimination between the real and the unreal,
attains desirelessness, and finally realizes its immortal nature.
Affirming this fact, the Katha Upanishad says: "When all the desires that
dwell in the heart fall away, then the mortal becomes immortal and here
attains Brahman."

Death and Life Beyond Death

Death, according to Hinduism, is a series of changes through
which an individual passes. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad describes thus
the passing of a soul:
When the soul departs from the body, the
life-breath follows: when the life-breath departs, all the organs follow.
Then the soul becomes endowed with particularized consciousness and goes
to the body which is related to that consciousness. It is followed by its
knowledge, works, and past experience. Just as a leech supported on a
straw goes to the end of it, takes hold of another support, and contracts
itself, so does the self throw this body away and make it unconscious,
take hold of another support, and contract itself. Just as a goldsmith
takes a small quantity of gold and fashions another - a newer and better -
form, so does the soul throw this body away, or make it unconscious, and
make another - a new and better - form suited to the Manes, or the
celestial minstrels, or the gods, or Virat, or Hiranyagarbha, or other
beings. . As it does and acts, so it becomes; by doing good it becomes
good, and by doing evil it becomes evil - it becomes virtuous through good
acts and vicious through evil acts.

Hinduism speaks of the four courses that men follow after
death. The first, called devayana, way of the gods, is followed by
spiritually advanced souls who lead an extremely pure life, devoting
themselves to wholehearted meditation on Brahman, but who have not
succeeded in attaining complete Self-knowledge before death. They repair
to Brahmaloka, the highest heaven, and from there in due course attain
liberation. The description of this path in the Chhandogya Upanishad is as
follows:

Now, such a one-whether his after-death rites are performed or
not-goes to light, from light to day, from day to the bright half of the
month, from the bright half of the month to the six months during which
the sun rises northward, from the months to the year, from the year to the
sun, from the sun to the moon, from the moon to the lightning. There he
meets a person who is not a human being. This person carries the soul to
Brahman. This is the divine path, the path of Brahman. Those proceeding by
this path do not return to the whirl of humanity.

The second course,
known as pitriyana, way of the fathers, is followed by ritualists and
philanthropists who have cherished a desire for the results of their
charity, austerity, vows, and worship. Following this path, they repair to
Chandraloka, the lunar sphere, and after enjoying immense happiness there
as a reward for their good actions, they return again to earth since they
still have earthly desires. The third course, which leads to hell, is
followed by those who led an impure life, performing actions forbidden by
the scriptures. They are born in sub-human species. After expiating their
evil actions, they are again reborn on earth in human bodies. The fourth
course is for those who are extremely vile in their thoughts and actions.
They are reborn again and again as insignificant creatures such as
mosquitoes and fleas. Eventually, after the expiation of their evil
actions, they too return to human bodies on earth. When a soul assumes a
human body, it takes up the thread of spiritual evolution of its previous
human birth and continues to evolve toward Self-knowledge. According to
Hinduism, all souls will ultimately attain Self-knowledge. The four
courses do not apply to those souls who attain Self-knowledge before or at
the time of death. For these souls there is no going to any realm. Upon
their death, their souls become absorbed in Brahman, and the elements of
their body-mind complex return to their original source.

From the point of view
of Hinduism, dying may be compared to falling asleep and after-death
experiences to dreams. The thoughts and actions of the waking state
determine the nature of our dreams. Similarly, after death the soul
experiences the results of the thoughts it entertained and the actions it
performed during its life on earth. After-death experiences are real to
the soul, just as a dream is real to the dreamer, and may continue for
ages. Then, when the soul wakes up after this sleep, it finds itself
reborn as a human being. According to the Hindu scriptures, some souls
after death also may be born as human beings without going through the
experiences of heaven or hell. There is no real break in the spiritual
evolution of the soul toward Self-knowledge. Even the soul's lapse into
sub-human birth from human life is a mere detour. A dying man's next life
is determined by his last thought in the present life. The Bhagavad Gita
says: "For whatever objects a man thinks of at the final moment, when he
leaves the body - that alone does he attain, O son of Kunti, being ever
absorbed in the thought thereof." And the last thought of the dying
person inevitably reflects his inmost desire. These different courses
after death have been described to warn people against neglecting the path
of Self-knowledge, which alone can confer immortality and eternal peace
and happiness.